“Between Us and the Moon” by Rebecca Maizel (review)

During the summer that Sarah turns 16, she falls for Andrew, 20, without realizing what their love might cost him.

On the surface, “Between Us and the Moon” is a charming romance between Sarah, who turns 16 during the course of the story, and Andrew, who is 20 — and thinks that Sarah is 18.

Just two years between the lie and the truth, but what dangerous lies they are. Sarah tries to summon the nerve to tell Andrew the truth, but keeps building a web of lies and fabrications instead.

In “Between Us and the Moon” — the title refers both to the phrase (“Just between us,”) often preceding a lie or gossip, and to Sarah’s ambitions in astronomy 00 she leads Andrew to believe that she’s a freshman at MIT. She deliberately avoids disclosing that she has an older sister who’s a ballet star and a bit of a femme fatale. (Among Roman Catholics, the latter is known as a sin of omission.)

While Scarlett goes to s prestigious ballerina camp, Sarah and her parents stay with Aunt Nancy, a well-to-do relative with a house on Cape Cod. Aunt Nancy thinks Sarah needs to follow her glamorous big sister’s example — makeup, girly dresses — while Sarah prefers to spend her time and money on astronomy equipment and her plans to win a crucial scholarship.

But with Scarlett gone, Sarah reconsiders her aunt’s wishes. She decides to stage The Scarlett Experiment, borrowing her sister’s American flag bikini and other non-Sarah clothing, to see if she can woo boys as easily as her sister does. In her alter-ego state, she invents a new facade. But is Andrew in love with Sarah, or with Sarah-as-Scarlett-Experiment?

Just when Sarah is convinced Andrew loves her for who she is, despite her age, circumstances force her to come clean. Andrew is appalled when he learns her real age. He understands far better than Sarah what it means for a 20-year-old to be dating a 16-year-old minor.

This critical conversation takes place in the penultimate chapter of “Between Us and the Moon,” which is genuinely unfortunate. Would more minor girls pause to reflect before getting involved with a male and putting him at risk of being permanently labelled a child molester?

And “Between Us and the Moon” seems to take place in current time; any potential boyfriend or girlfriend with functioning brain cells is going to Google their love interest’s name, right? Wouldn’t Andrew have figured out Sarah’s true age from her social media accounts?

And Sarah is smart — math-club smart, astronomy superstudent-smart. She didn’t grok that this romance could have been disastrous for the boyfriend she adored?

In RL, yes; in this novel, no. It’s a wonderfully-told romance story, but that last penultimate scene between Sarah and Andrew deserves more attention than it gets.